Case Study extracted from Salat, Serge. 2021. Integrated Guidelines for Sustainable Neighbourhood Design. Urban Morphology and Complex Systems Institute 2021. © UMCSII.

Photo credits: By Pontus Ohlsson

Bo01 was planned and built on a spectacular site overlooking the Öresund Strait between Copenhagen, Denmark, and Malmö, Sweden. The area is a former industrial estate and port, where the ground was polluted. This 18-hectare development represents the first step in transforming 160 hectares of industrial land. Density is 122 people per hectare, and more than half of the area is dedicated to open space. Outstanding urban design qualities have been achieved with an innovative participatory process in which the city exerted control through ownership, objective formulation, and planning while involving stakeholders. In Malmö, innovative methods coordinated the collaboration of government, designers, and developers. ‘Creative dialogues’ produced consensus on what to accomplish. In 1999, the collaborative process culminated in the Quality Programme elaborated between the City of Malmö and the developers.

Key partners and actors

The sustainability accomplishments of Bo01 are attributable in part to the control the city exerted through ownership, goal formulation, and planning. The city hired Klas Tham, a well-known architect and planner, to establish the sustainability basis for Bo01 and serve as its preeminent designer and director. Tham holistic approach was transmitted to the city officials, departments, and developers through a ‘Creative Dialogue.’ Through a series of meetings and presentations, the participants developed the ‘Quality Programme,’ which established performance requirements. The 20 developers selected for the project committed to material, technological, environmental, and architectural quality measures before any parcel was sold. Although time-consuming, the process resulted in rapid approval of the plans later submitted by the developers to the city. This was due to a clear understanding of the requirements and enhanced coordination and agreement between city departments.

1. Drafting the key points of a Quality Programme in Malmö Bo01 

At the initial stage of Malmö Bo01 development, the Quality Programme was the driving instrument for achieving the sustainability goals and ensuring high-quality place making, environmental profile, technology and services. It illustrates a holistic approach and gives criteria, detailed objectives and directions for solutions on energy efficiency, source separation of waste, greenery, biodiversity, etc. while allowing design invention, creativity and diversity.

The key points established in the Quality Programme aimed at:

• Creating a spirit of place from the context

Spirit of place is created in Bo01 by the ‘sensory, emotional and mental non-quantifiable human aspects of design’ and by ‘highlighting the genius loci – the unique identity and quality of the place – the sky, the sea, the wind, the ground – and its imageability’ (Bo01 1999). 

• Shaping the neighbourhood structure and image

The Quality Program outlines the image of Bo01 as ‘strong, intrinsic identity of the part and the whole – the home, the block, the street, the square, the park, the neighbourhood; intelligibility of structure, form and function, facilitating participation by the residents’ (Bo01, 1999). Two sharp contrasts ensure legibility and image while establishing meaningful differences between the intimate scale of inner blocks and the wider landscape. 

According to Klas Tham: ‘The plan has also been shaped by our ambitions: to offer an urban structure that is sufficiently robust, to meet the demands of an uncertain future (the network structure of block city and clear borders between the public and private spaces), to provide the conditions for the essence of the city, the meeting between different people and cultures, to come about gradually (the small-scale property division of the plan, its range of different residential environments), to let cars get through, but on the terms of the pedestrians, to provide the conditions of a city environment which, over and above empathy and comprehensibility, also offer a wealth of information, mystery, surprises, and many unique and promising urban spaces; a dramatic tension between the grand and the intimate, to offer a wealth of all forms of vegetation, from the individual garden, to the sheltered, thickly wooded public canal park through the interior of the area. That is how the plan took shape. The grid has been distorted by the wind, among other things, like a fishnet hung out to dry. And, as a result, it has actually become more rational, more valuable to build, live and stroll around in’ (McCollum n.d.).

• Designing from topographic and climatic context 

A slightly distorted grid organises all the Western Harbour. Perimeter buildings define the edges of the scheme and block the wind while smaller buildings and open spaces in the interior create a more human scale. This microclimate consideration was extended through the formation of largely enclosed mixed-use and residential courtyards.

• Connecting people movement and street patterns

The Quality Programme (1999) describes people movement as the ‘wealth of information, mystery, surprise, possibilities of getting lost and making accidental discoveries.’ Irregular streets and their rich set of interconnections create visual variety, diversity in patterns, open spaces, and buildings.

As stated in the Quality Programme (Bo01, the City of Malmö, and Developers’ Representatives 1999) the plan ‘provides many different opportunities for approaching and exploring the district’. The Bo01 plan establishes a rhythm for the slower pace of pedestrians and cyclists. Variations in the grid shield inner areas from the weather that buffets the district. Unpredictable building orientation and placement create a dynamic character, full of surprising spaces and views within a walking environment. A series of triangular shapes closes and opens the streetscape and vistas dynamically creating sequences of discovery along people's progression. This effect of discovery is created by the mix of formal and informal spaces at many scales, including a mix of streets, pedestrian walks, alleyways, squares, and water banks. 

• Designing the public realm

Slightly more than half of the neighbourhood is open space. Designed within a varied landscape, many social areas initiate a broad range of experiences for people. Access to green zones and water, the use of daylight, and different visual impressions create a sense of well-being. A network of parks and passages at different scales blends green and water streams offering both storm water collection and active recreation for the inhabitants. 

• Designing a fine grain layout of blocks and buildings

The block organisation takes advantage of the magnificence of its site – the sea, the great sky, the horizon, the sunset and the Öresund Bridge. The design of Bo01 includes a street grid distorted to shelter constructions from the wind. Five-floor blocks face the sea, further protecting the inner buildings while reinforcing the character of the waterfront promenade. They temper the microclimate – ‘the forceful winds from the west’[1]. The hierarchy of streets and public open spaces is highlighted with a gradient of colours, shapes, detailing, relation to green and water bodies. The sequence evolves from large-scale exterior connection to water, to inner and more intimate water features in streets. People can choose diverse routes according to the weather and their mood.

• Integrating neighbourhood systems

• Mobility

The City of Malmö prepared a holistic concept first to reduce the need for transport then to support the most environmentally favourable modes, including walking and biking; to make buses accessible at less than 300 metres from each inhabitant with a high frequency (every 6 to 7 minutes) (City of Malmö 2006); and finally, to establish provision for ‘green’ vehicles and carpooling options, all enabled by a mobility management information system. 

• Renewable sources

Bo01 generates 100% of its energy from renewable sources including a wind turbine, solar tube and flat panel collectors, and geothermal (heat pump), besides the waste-to-energy conversion systems. The 3MW wind energy plant is in the northern part of the Western Harbour. Photovoltaic cells generate on-site additional electricity for use in the dwellings and to power the heat pumps, fans, and water pumps. An efficient district heating system – augmented by solar collectors – uses geothermal technology.  

• Eco-cycle and waste management 

The City of Malmö after extensive analysis of alternative waste and sewage systems, devised a plan to minimise material consumption, reuse materials, and recover energy from waste and residual products wherever possible. 

• Green Spaces and stormwater management 

A minimum Green Plot Ratio ensures greening the ground, roofs, façades, planting beds, permeable paving, and designated habitat areas. The surface stormwater system provides a model of effective design, due in part to high permeability requirements. It secures water retention and is a key amenity for residents. Green roofs, water retention in courtyard ponds, and infiltration through gravel and other previous paving initiates the stormwater system. The networked and distributed nature of these elements creates a finely scaled infrastructure. 

2. Implementing a Quality Programme 

Diversity, a key feature of resilience, characterises Bo01. Twenty-six architecture firms and 20 development companies were gathered to create the astounding pluralism of the neighbourhood. This contrasts with many multi-family schemes where repetition of the same building model, regardless of orientation or context, results in a monotonous living environment.

Dividing the project into small development plots and assigning them to different architects fostered diversity of architectural expression. While each team of architect developers had to obey urban design guidelines for height, density, and green spaces, they were free to elaborate their architectural responses to site conditions.

The 20 developers selected for the project committed to material, technological, environmental, and architectural quality measures before any parcel was sold. Although time-consuming, the process resulted in rapid approval of the plans submitted by developers to the city (Austin 2013). The primary landowner, the city of Malmö, became the ‘horizontal developer’, in charge of the planning and building of all public spaces and infrastructure, while the private sector was responsible for all construction within each plot boundaries.

Lessons Learnt

The holistic definition of sustainability in Malmö Bo01 resulted in aesthetics and social options that match the high levels of technical performance. The project supports physical and psychological health by providing immediate access to open space and opportunities for human interaction. The urban environment offers meeting points and a well-balanced mix of housing activities, schools, and green areas, creating a vibrant community fulfilling the needs for beauty, proportion, nature and water. The landscape is diverse and beautifully illustrates responsiveness to the environmental context. The public spaces are compelling and attract people to the seaside. More than any other development Bo01 created a community with the variety, detail, and diversity that eludes master-planned communities with fewer participating architects, landscape architects, and developers (Austin, 2013). 

Footnotes

[1] Klas Tham, “Bo01: City of Tomorrow” - unpublished paper, March 2007 - Quoted in Fraker 2013.

References 

Austin, G. 2013. Case Study and Sustainability Assessment of Bo01, Malmö, Sweden. Journal of Green Building 8 (3): 34–0.

Bo01, the City of Malmö, and Developers’ Representatives 1999. Quality Programme: Bo01 City of Tomorrow.

City of Malmö 2006. Västra Hamnen: The Bo01 Area. A City for People and the Environment. 

Fraker, H. 2013. The Hidden Potential of Sustainable Neighborhoods. Lessons from Low-Carbon Communities. Island Press.

McCollum, A. n.d. Bo01 City of Tomorrow. Västra Hamnen, Malmö, Sweden.